A beautiful day. We wandered down to Walnut Park to check out Art in the Park (and may head back tomorrow), then came home, read awhile, and are now watching the Giants/Dodgers game, post-dinner. I’m having a Stone Japanese Green Tea IPA, a collaboration between Stone Brewing Company, Tashi Ishii, and Bryan Baird. Continue reading
A lot of reading today, but still managed to fit in a couple of shorts. Today’s theme: Yellow: Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Robert W. Chambers’s “The Yellow Sign.” Decadent, Yellow, madness. I needed to choose an adult beverage that hit a high mark. Continue reading
A day spent bouncing between manuscripts, ending with a pair of short stories: Robert M. Price’s “Wilbur Whateley Waiting” and Robert W. Chambers’s “The Harbor-Master.” And now? Pizza, the Giants vs. Diamondbacks on TV, and a Lost Continent Double IPA… Continue reading
“I saw a werewolf drinking a piña colada at Trader Vic’s, his hair was perfect!” –Warren Zevon
It’s not often I find myself accosted by a werewolf while doing my grocery shopping. But I love a good gimmick, and this “blood red ale” from Newcastle had it all: clawmarks on the case, a lycanthropic logo, and “Escaped from Britain” on the label. Continue reading
What a day! A parade, a ballgame (on TV), some errand running, and an awesome sandwich. Now I’m watching Beetlejuice with Maddie and knocking back a libation from Fairfax, CA: Iron Springs JC Flyer IPA. Named for the Bay Area country-rocker, JC Flyer is “an English style India Pale Ale with West Coast hops.” I’m afraid I’m not familiar with JC. How’s his beer? Continue reading
Another week of juggling manuscripts in various states: rough drafts to polished prizes to final corrections. All to make sure they do one thing: communicate a story without stumbling. What I do requires a whole lot of trying to get into authors’ and editors’ heads, trying to glean the motivation and meaning behind the words. It’s almost enough to give one an identity crisis. Continue reading
A nice, long walk this morning, followed by an exciting drive in Randy’s Jeep (which I totally plan to avoid driving in the future–no left arm space unless you hang out the window like a leadfooted Big Daddy Roth monster). A little bit of grocery shopping. Retail therapy. La Hacienda for dinner. I needed a cheese enchilada. Time to kick it: KCSM, a manuscript, and an adult beverage. Tonight, I’m cracking open a Rubicon Hopsauce Double IPA. Hopsauce? Promising. Continue reading
Does this beer smell funny to you?
Lenny Bruce is one of my heroes. A tragic hero, sure, not to mention an excellent example of how to be a bad example. But his insistence on fully exercising his freedom of speech: American Dream-level heroic. Continue reading
So I put on my robe and wizard hat tonight and ventured out to see the latest Harry Potter flick. I’m not much of a bildungsroman kind of guy. I haven’t seen the last four. No worries. HP8 was pure angst and action. Characters I was supposed to care about dropped like flies. People exploded. Banks defaulted. Monsters monsted. A good time was had by all. ‘Cept the guys that died, of course. Plus, Batman trailer. Made me want to cap the day with something fun, a white IPA: Deschutes/Boulevard Conflux No. 2. Continue reading
Trying to prolong Sunday night by watching the old Thriller episode “Pigeons from Hell” and drinking a Rogue Somer Orange Honey Ale. Continue reading
